So, it was India that managed to bring the heat to the pirates, according to the BBC.
Given that the Somali pirates have been in the news a lot I thought this might interest people.
Not the Einsteins of the pirate world, apparently; real warships aren’t best attacked with handheld weapons.
While I am delighted with this development, is it wrong of me to be almost more delighted to hear sombre BBC news announcers talking about it and using the phrase “pirate mothership”?
I’m feeling slightly ignored, since I did postthis a few hours ago 
But couldn’t an RPG pack quite a punch if it scored a hit?
I read that article a few minutes ago and gave that phrase a quick mental :dubious:
Unless the pirates have that sub eating ship from one of the Bond films, in which case the use of that term is quite ok.
Oops; missed that completely.
I merged the two threads so no one will feel left out. 
Thank you 
But in regards to this matter - what rights did the Indians have to fire upon the Pirate Mothership? (this assumes the Pirates didn’t shoot first)
Piracy is one of those things that any country can take action against in international waters and no one is likely to kick up a fuss.
Actually, the article says that they DID shoot first.
I guess that’s true. Would be fun to see a lawyer from Eyl (the pirate city), representing the pirates in some court, claiming damages from the Indian government
Which makes my question unvalid in practice. But theoretically, which then **Asterion **pretty much answered.
They were shooting at a full sized missile frigate, views available through Google (Indian warship Tabor). If the RPG has a fragmentation warhead, there would be no damage other than paint burns to the metal if they even hit the ship. The thin superstructure metal would defeat the warhead. An RPG with a HEAT warhead could penetrate thin areas of the ship’s outer skin and possibly cause some injuries if it impacted a specific area of the outer hull with sailors inside. Any sensitive electronics, vital equipment or mechanics is buried well within the ship. Best (luckiest) shot would be to external radar or radio antennae. Possibly hitting an area of the bridge could injure/kill deck officers (very remote).
Firing at the Frigate only gave them the opening to fire back and destroy the pirate ship. The Frigate was never in any danger.
Note that an RPG is unguided. It’s difficult to hit a moving target especially if your firing platform is also moving/swaying in the sea. [I was going to use “heaving” instead of “swaying” but that would only encourage Dopers] Aimed range effectively is around 200-300 meters or less though free flight to a general area is up to 1000 meters. Different variations of RPGs may be aimed more/less effectively at distance.
Yep. The four leaf clover shot would be onto the bridge, but that vessel (if it’s the same one I saw on CNN this AM) wouldn’t feel the heat from an RPG. Good on them, I says.
Thank you very much smithsb
This is why I love this place. There’s always someone who know A LOT about any subject.
The damage inflicted would depend a bit on both the warhead and the missile launcher. It’s implied that it’s a straight-forward RPG-7 with - probably - a HE load. While this would probably cause an unarmoured car a world of pain, trying it against a fully armoured missile frigate is nothing less than suicide by proxy.
One could have better odds through other launcher systems, though - a barrage of Javelin missiles (the US AT STS model, not the British STA) could well be serious even for a frigate. Mostly because they’re guided and because they strike from the top, i.e. they’re fired upwards and then guide themselves down to the striking point. I could imagine a Javelin with a HE or HEAT load could do considerable damage if it hit a vulnerable spot in the deck.
Question: why don’t we just target a cruise missile on the dock areas where the pirates are? End of problem.
Oh, and get the word out that pirates will be making a one-way trip to the bottom of the ocean.
Unfortunately, the article did not end with “The surviving pirates were captured, and then hanged by the neck until dead.” Until that solution is put into practice, the piracy will continue.
Actually a better solution would involve articles ending “The surviving pirates were not captured, as the naval captain decided it would be more efficient to allow them to be eaten by sharks, kept on board the frigate for that express purpose and released into the water as the pirate vessel sank. Said devourings were captured on video and posted to YouTube.”
For those of us who are into the trivia of the matter, the INS Tabar (F44) appears to be one of the Indian Navy’s newest frigates of the Russian-built Talwar class. Here’s a photo of sister ship F43 INS Trishul. Pretty ships; I love that tumblehome stuff.
These dopes were going to attack that with an RPG??? Talk about letting your battleship mouth overload your rowboat ass …